First man in space remains 20th-century idol for most Russians-poll.

MOSCOW, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- The first man in space, Yuri
Gagarin, remains Russia's number one celebrity of the 20th century, as
follows from an opinion poll held by the national public opinion studies
center VCIOM. Moreover, his rating has grown over the past decade from 30
percent to 35 percent.

Actor, songwriter and singer Vladimir Vysotsky is second with 31
percent, and World War II Marshal Georgy Zhukov, third (20 percent).
As compared with the previous poll on this theme conducted back in
1999, the ratings of some personalities have changed somewhat.
Ten years ago Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Vysotsky practically shared
first place (30 percent and 31 percent respectively. However, while
Vysotsky's rating remained unchanged, that of Gagarin grew noticeably.
Zhukov was number three with a large share of votes (26 percent).
The VCIOM poll was held on January 9-10, 2010. The pollster questioned
sixteen hundred men and women of age in 140 towns and cities in Russia's
42 regions, territories and republics. The statistical error margin was no
greater than 3.4 percent.

.First two inclined 9-km oil wells sunk at Odoptu off Sakhalin.

VLADIVOSTOK, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- The drilling of first two
inclined 9-kilometer wells was completed at the Odoptu oil field off the
Island of Sakhalin last Wednesday. The drilling work was done by the
coastal rig Yastreb (Hawk), of the US company Exxon Neftegaz Limited - the
operator of the Sakhalin-1 project. A total of seven wells are to be
drilled at Odoptu. Oil production is scheduled to begin there in the
second half of 2010.
Earlier, the Yastreb rig drilled more than a dozen wells at Chaivo,
which joined production in 2005. After that the giant drilling rig was
moved to a new area, 80 kilometers north of Chaivo, with the aim to tap
the Odoptu oil field. The oilrig took seven months to transport. The job
was done by a staff of 400. Heavy trucks had to make over fifteen hundred
runs to relocate all parts and equipment.
A coastal oil and gas terminal is being built at Odoptu and a
commercial pipeline is being laid towards the existing terminal at Chaivo.
The Sakhalin-1 project encompasses the development of three deposits
estimated at a total of 307 million tonnes of oil and 485 billion cubic
meters of natural gas. Since the moment the production of hydrocarbons
began with the framework of the Sakhalin-1 project over 32 million tones
of crude has been extracted from under the Sea of Okhotsk. Alongside that
over five billion cubic meters of casing head gas was supplied to the
Khabarovsk Territory. Exxon Neftegaz Limited has paid over 2.6 billion
dollars to the budget of the Russian Federation in royalties and the due
share of oil and gas (including 646 million dollars paid to the budget of
the Sakhalin Region).
The Sakhalin-1 consortium consists of affiliates of the Russian
state-run oil company Rosneft - RN-Astra (8.5 percent) and
Sakhalinmorneftegaz-Shelf (11.5 percent), Japan's Sakhalin Oil and Gas
Development Company, Ltd., (30 percent) India's state oil company ONGC
Videsh Limited (20 percent), and Exxon Oil and Gas Limited, which is a
daughter organization of ExxonMobil (a 30-percent share).


.More than half of Russians say 2009 was successful - poll.


MOSCOW, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- More than half of Russians (58
percent) believe that last year was successful for them personally, and
only one-third of the polled by the national public opinion studies center
VCIOM described 2009 as unsuccessful.
It is noteworthy that according to sociologists several years ago
comments on "the year of default" looked completely different - 49 percent
of Russians said 1998 was unsuccessful, while 37 percent replied it was
good by and large.
Sociologists are certain that the current crisis caused insignificant
effects on people's confidence in their future - 51 percent believe that
its level has not changed, while those whose confidence eased and, on the
contrary, grew firmer are roughly in balance (21 percent and 22 percent
respectively).
The parameters of 1998 look very similar but for one factor. Then, 11
percent said that they had no confidence before the crisis and after it.
In 2009 the share of absolute pessimists reduced by four percent.
Confidence in other people is another feeling very invulnerable to the
crisis. In 2009 fifteen percent lost that feeling and as many developed
it. Ten years ago the number of those who had lost faith in one's neighbor
was twice that of those whose feeling grew stronger (21 percent against
12).
It is quite remarkable that the ability to survive crises considerably
enhances the self-esteem of many Russians. In 1998 seventeen percent
improved their opinion of themselves, and only nine percent said it was
the other way round. In 2009 the ratio proved better - 22 percent against
six percent.
The negative effects of the crisis mostly manifest themselves in the
feeling of one's own insecurity and lack of protection (23 percent noted
this trend, eleven percent disagreed with this, saying that over the year
of the world crisis their feeling of protection had grown). Nevertheless
20 percent last year received fresh evidence they are needed by other
people (thirteen percent said that feeling had been shattered).
The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on January 9-10, 2010 in 140
towns and cities of Russia's 42 constituents. The pollster questioned an
audience of 1,600 men and women of age. The statistical error margin was
no greater than 3.4 percent.

-0-str